zacharylevin.com : other sports

Preview of GSP Vs. Koscheck
August 21, 2007
To the chagrin of MMA fans the world over, the UFC has been on an extended hiatus that has felt like an eternity.

Reputed Boxing Matchmaker’s Take On MMA
August 14, 2007
In the world of boxing, the name Johnny Bos does not resonate with most folks the way Don King, Bob Arum or even that Runyonesque, cigar-chomping fedora-wearing scribe, Bert Sugar, does.

Couture Hopes To Keep Defying Odds, Time
August 7, 2007
The UFC heavyweight champion Randy “The Natural” Couture was once the face of that organization, a gentleman/ambassador that its president Dana White was delighted to have folks associate with his product.

Rutten Likes His Fighters Like He Likes His Steaks
July 31, 2007
Before answering my first question yesterday during a one-on-one interview at Gallagher’s Steakhouse in Midtown Manhattan, MMA great Bas Rutten stabbed a thick piece of bloody meat like it stole something from him.

Steroids In MMA—An Epidemic?
July 24, 2007
It appears that the use of performance enhancing drugs is simply endemic to professional sports. This is the “Roid Era,” one in which Barry Bonds’ imminent all-time MLB home run mark will be accompanied by an asterisk. Sadly, all of today’s grand achievements in everything from football to cycling to track & field are now met with a warranted skepticism.

Meet Big Ben Rothwell
July 17, 2007
“This is blood for blood and by the gallons,” says Ben Rothwell, a 6’5’’ 265-pound mixed martial artist who has been terrorizing the competition in the International Fight League (IFL), which is elbowing the colossal UFC for some mat-time. “This is the old days, the bad days, the all-or-nothing days.”

Heavyweight Rothwell Is A Made-To-Order Star For The IFL
July 11, 2007
This is blood for blood and by the gallons,” says Ben Rothwell, a 6’5’’ 280-pound mixed martial artist who has been terrorizing the competition in the International Fight League (IFL), which is elbowing the colossal UFC for some mat-time.

MMA Is Upon Us : The IFL World Championship Finals
January 2, 2007
2006 will be remembered as the year Mixed Martial Arts arrived—like a tsunami. Citing the gaudy Pay-Per-View numbers, the success of the reality show The Ultimate Fighter (TUF), or that enormous billboard of Chuck and Tito near Time Square, doesn’t do the phenomena justice.

Gabe Jennings: Stanford's Free Spirited Phenom
August, 2000
Jennings’ shaggy black hair bounces with every stride; the junior music major claims he likes he likes it long because it keeps good time, marking each stride like a metronome.

The Six Greatest Super Bowls
July, 2000
Montana actually stopped the clock long enough to point out comedian John Candy sitting in the stands, exhibiting a poise under pressure that helped keep his team loose during Super Bowl XXIII.

Reilly’s Life
March, 2000
When Reilly pens his column, he visualizes the guy he writes it for. He describes him as "some guy in Peoria, sittin' in his Barcalounger, after a hard day's work." This imagined reader has three kids running around him and all the tools of distraction at his disposal- the Internet, TV, newspapers, a video rental, etc. "What's gonna keep his interest?" Reilly asks.